LitterMaid LM900 Mega Self-Cleaning Litter Box

I have had the Littermaid LM900 for 3 months now and have two cats. These cats are standard sized 10 lb adults - 1 male & 1 female)so nothing unusual here.

Well, the pan doesn't seem to be long enough for either cat. Both of them pee into the rake or a corner near the motor. Ten minutes later when the rake comes along the litter gets all gummed up in it. If they poop then the rake still gets all dirty but the litter gets pushed around and a huge pile of litter gets dumped into the waste receptacle.
I think I'm manually scooping as much as I always did, except that I'm a couple bucks poorer.

I always keep the litter "almost" filled to the proper level since the rake sometimes has a hard time of coming across the properly filled pan and then backs up repeatedly.
Well the last time this happened I was on vacation and my neighbor was taking care of the cats.

She said it apparently jammed then went back & forth so many times the cats couldn't use the pan one day so they did their duty on the floor next to it. She had to reset it on/off.
The rest of the two weeks we were gone it malfunctioned repeatedly and the side grooves that the rake rolls along were both junked up with goopy cat pee/litter and jammed frozen solid.
She had to turn the unit off and scoop manually until we got home.
I tried resetting the unit and it refued to budge.
I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it in the sink then dried and reassembled it.
It still refused to work. Only the red light would come on but the rake would not come out.
The PetSmart I bought it from refused to refund my money since I didn't have the original box (gee, maybe they intended to try & resell it?).

I contacted the manufacturer and they gave me a resetting sequence to perform. Still no luck. So they authorized me a replacement pan since it looks like the motor burned out. They had me mail (at my own expense) half the parts on the pan to prove I owned one AND $10 to cover shipping the new one out to me.

It's been 3 weeks I've been waiting for the replacement pan and have had to go back to the manual $4 cat pan. They cashed the check so I know they got my "proof package".
I would have preferred to get my $150 back but they refused me that. So it cost me $10 more to buy my replacement pan.
I wish I never would have bought this pan. It still requires manual scooping and daily maintenance.


Was worth the price for us   July 31, 2003
28 out of 28 found this review helpful

Okay, so it's not perfect. But for that price, can you find someone willing to pick up after every cat in your household, every time it goes to the litterbox? Day after day? I really appreciate the help. It's a robot, really. Sure, it seems a bit pricey at first, but it was well worth the money for me, for us. The cats adjusted to it very quickly. At first they ran to the box and watched it every time it went off, but now they completely ignore it. I find that I need to clean out the receptacle every day, but without it, I'd be cleaning two or three old-fashioned litterboxes every day anyway. And, yes, sometimes the small "pieces" roll into the side rails or stay in the tines, and often times the clumps like pancakes at the bottom have to be manually scraped up, but still, overall it's a great help. We have three cats and one LM mega unit. When they say to fill only to the recommended fill line, they mean it. The poor unit cannot handle any more than that--honestly, that's important. Also, we tried all sorts of clumping litter and the one that is corn-based seems to work the best for us. We've had it for six months now and I'm happy with it.
p.s. It helps to line the collection receptacle with a plastic bag. Don't know who could afford to throw it out each time!


Great Product - Learn it's few limitations!   December 21, 2003
27 out of 28 found this review helpful

This is a great product. Given that I have two cats, one of whom is particulary finicky and wants a clean litterbox all the time.

Prior to purchasing the Littermaid litterbox, I was using three large litterbox pans that I had to scoop at least every 1.5 days. I usually changed the litter in all three about once a month. We usually had to have a friend come over and swap a couple of them out for some fresh litterboxes (made up in advance) if we went out of town for a long three-day weekend.

No longer! The Littermaid is great! I now empty the bin about once every 4 days. In the three years we've owned it, we are now on our 12th bin. So I wouldn't consider the cost of those a significant factor.

However, there are a few lessons to learn when using the automatic litterbox successfully. I'll list those here....

First, when it says don't overfill it with litter, it really means it! In fact, I've found that there better be a gap between the top of the litter and the "full" marker on the side of the pan. If you fill it up truly level with the "full" mark, the machine tends to work hard at scooping and it may take several passes.

Second, pick your litter carefully. Even some of the "premium" brands get flaky on you. I tried a generic clumping litter once, and that was no good. It never really clumped well, and the litterbox just got stuck all the time. So I went back to "Tidy Cat" brand clumping litter. This worked fine for months. Then suddenly I started having a problem with it not clumping anymore. Must have been a quality control problem. I ended up stepping up to the next more expensive "crystal" clumping litter to get the same performance I used to get. I've since switched to "Scoop Away" with much better results.

The electronics in the litterbox are fragile! I made the mistake of taking ours outside and hosing it off a couple of times, taking care to keep the water out of the electronics end. The "automatic" function stopped working. I've since realized I only needed to disconnect the litter pan from the quick-release locks on the side to clean it, not hose off the whole thing! Duh!

Finally, as someone else mentioned, this thing is a machine, and it requires a mild amount of care. I have some pretty messy cats, and I usually just wiped mine down with a we cloth about every two weeks and it was fine. I tried to give it a good "spring cleaning" once a year by hosing it completely clean.

Incidently, even though I've broken mine, it still works by turning the power on or off. So I hooked it up to a cheap appliance timer that I bought from Wal-Mart that turns it on once every two hours. That is sufficient. Plus I purposely have the time set so that it won't run at all from about mid-night until 6am so I'm not awakened by a stuck/jammed load that seems to go on forever when you are sleeping! Those with normally functioning boxes may want to adapt this timer!


Finally pulled the plug   November 8, 2003
harrierhawk (San Clemente, CA USA)
26 out of 29 found this review helpful

It's 4:30 am and I pulled the plugout forever. Read on.
I've had this model for about a year. It's great in theory but in practice it falls a bit short. Maybe it's just my cat, but it has become too annoying to keep.
Problems:
Noisy - don't have it anywhere in the open. When the motor strains it can wake almost anybody making multiple passes. Since my cat builds sand castles for fun (mainly because the actual litter level needs to be too low for the machine to work), it can take 5 or six passes to level it out.

Wimpy - Maybe the 1/2 hp chain drive from my garage door would be too much but this one can't handle the load of one cat 10% of the time. After 5 - 10 minutes of strained passes it gives up. (I hope you haven't left town for a couple of days).

Popping out of alignment - This was the final straw. After about 10 months, the gear on the side would occaisionally slip a tooth and the bar goes out of alignment. When this occurs, the comb isn't straight and the comb teeth catch on the edge by the disposal tray and a very loud pop ensues. This is why the plug was finally pulled. That "pop" now wakes me up immediately and I know that I will have to listen to this racket of groans and pops for the next 5 to 10 minutes until it finally gives up or I give up and run downstairs to fix it.

If you have a closed or semi closed location and a dainty cat that doesn't make mountains out of mole hills, this might work for you. If not, save your money and your sleep.


$99 for NEW??? This is NOT the NEWEST MODEL!!!   March 24, 2004
26 out of 26 found this review helpful

Before buying the $99 version here, you might want to check around the Internet. The LATEST version of this product was released in July of 2003. It has new retail packaging with a white cat on the front (instead of Garfield), and there is a "new and improved logo" in the upper left corner. If the seller does not show this box, then they are selling LEFTOVER stock of the older model. That is what is being offered for $99.

Why is this important?

1. N&I model has a stronger motor reducing Warranty issues.
2. N&I model includes new accessories - triple action tool, and 4 odor-reducing carbon filters. Not included in $99 offer.
3. Latest Warranty Information not included (note that the $99 model avoids this issue) - the manufacturer checks a code on the product - you might be out of luck with the $99 model

The $99 price is less than wholesale, but remember that you get what you pay for. For a few dollars more, there are PLENTY of sellers offering TRULY Brand New product, with all accessories and Warranty.

Why take a chance?